Can New Doctors Be Harmflul to Your Health?

Between the nerves, the unfamiliarity and the urge to impress, few people do themselves justice on the first day of a new job. When it comes to doctors starting out in emergency medicine, though, are patients' lives being put at risk? According to research from Imperial College London, the death rate among patients admitted to English hospitals on the first Wednesday in August -the day, traditionally, that newly graduated doctors take up their posts--was, on average, 6% higher than for those admitted the last Wednesday in July. An influx of new medical staff, in other words, just might be very, very bad for your health.
In the university' s study (the biggest of its kind so far), published Sept. 23 in PLoS One, the online scientific journal of the U. S. Public Library of Science, scientists analyzed close to 300,000 patients admitted to state - run hospitals across England on those two Wednesdays from 2000 to 2008. The health of the patients, who were split evenly between the July and August admission days, was tracked for a week. While there was little difference between the crude death rates for each seven -day period, when researchers controlled for the patients' age, sex, socioeconomic status and secondary medical problems, the odds of dying was found to be 6% higher for those admired on the Wednesday in August. Among so - called medical achnissions - all those not suffering from cancer or requiring surgery -the odds were 8% higher. Should patients be nervous? Scientists have for years been examining the patient risk associated with a change over of medical staff Smaller studies conducted over the past two decades in Britain and the U. S. -where researchers label it the "July phenomenon," after the month in which medical students usually begin training--have often proved inconelusive.
Even the "small but significant" discrepancy highlighted by Imperial' s study doesn't point to a particular cause. It' s possible that patients admitted on the days junior doctors began work were simply in worse health than those taken in the week earlier. Some hospitals may have been more reluctant to admit patients with less - serious problems on the days new staff started work, limiting the number of cases young medics had to deal with but increasing the concentration of acutely ill patients in the process. "So it may not necessarily be directly related to the quality of care, "says Paul Aylin, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London and senior author of the study.

单选题 On which day do newly graduated doctors take up their posts according to the passage?
A. The last Wednesday in July B．The first Wednesday in August.
C. The first day of AugusD. The last day of July.

单选题 What is true of PLoS One according to the passage?

单选题 We can best replace "odds" in the third and fourth sentences in paragraph two with

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】根据题干提示定位到句子：While there was little difference between the crude-death rates for each seven-day period, when researchers controlled for the patients' age, sex, socioeconomic status and secondary medical problems, the odds of dying was found to be 6% higher for those admitted on the Wednesday in August(虽然在每个七日周期内的死亡率并没有什么区别，但是当研究人员控制了研究对象的年龄、性别、社会经济地位和继发性医疗问题后，就发现八月份第一个周三入院的病人的死亡率高出了六个百分点)。分析句子的结构和理解原句的意义后不难发现，所考查的词汇与句中的rates是同义替换的两个基本点词语，因此两者意义相同。因此本题的正确答案为A。

单选题 Which of the following is not true according to the passage?

单选题 Some hospitals are reluctant to admit patients with less serious problems probably because

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】根据题干关键词reluctant to admit patients定位到第三段文章第三段第三句：Some hospitals may have been more reluctant to admit patients with less-serious problems on the days new staff started work, limiting the number of cases young medics had to deal with but increasing the concentration of acutely ill patients in the process(有些医院在新员工开始工作的这一天更不愿意收治病情不太严重的病人，来控制这些年轻的医务人员所要应对的病例数量，同时把注意力集中治疗那些病情危重的病人)，D选项与此陈述相符，为正确答案。